With a chance to enter the third week of Foothill League competition with a .500 record, the West Ranch Wildcats girls soccer team did what it had to to pick up a 1-0 win over Golden Valley on Friday afternoon at West Ranch high school.

“Golden Valley has been so close to picking up a win these past few weeks, so we knew coming in they are coming into every game ready to battle,” said Wildcats head coach Jared White. “The game came down to a few things, but for us it starts with being better at finishing the opportunities we created.”

West Ranch (8-6-4 overall, 2-2 in Foothill League) controlled the pace of Friday’s action, as the Grizzlies were unable to assume control of the ball consistently and often gave up possession after minimal touches in the midfield.

Because of it, Golden Valley (8-5-2, 0-4) was resigned to clearing West Ranch attacks instead of generating many of its own.

“A lot of our girls are doing the right things on the field, but our mentality is still something we need to work on,” said Golden Valley head coach Adam Yassaman. “Instead of looking to extend and push leads, we are playing like we expect to win 1-0 games only. We have to know that we can win games where multiple goals are scored.”

West Ranch took the lead early and never gave it back after Wildcats junior forward Allie Theiss finished a ground-bound cross from teammate Hannah Hoskins in the 12th minute to bring the score to 1-0.

“We are where we kind of deserve to be right now,” said White on his teams standing among the other Foothill programs so far this season. “We were looking at having six points by this time, so heading into Valencia we’re in a good position.”

The Wildcats had multiple scoring opportunities that never came to fruition on Friday, including a barrage of shots by Theiss and teammate Taylor Ayers that each beat the keeper but not the goalpost.